"They just don't have a clue do they?" I burst out in frustration as my Deputy Manager Julie looked up from her desk in our shared office. "Have you seen this e-mail?" The e-mail in question was an invitation for all Managers and Deputies of all the Leisure Centres in the group to go to a conference and awards dinner in the Midlands in a month's time. "We're not allowed to be away on holiday at the same time, yet they can drag us all away to a shindig without any thought for who is going to run the business in our absence. We'll be gone for the best part of three days in all, with travelling and two overnight stays. Never mind the costs of it all."
I could see that Julie was scanning the details, "I don't think I can do it anyway David, the only person I could ask to look after the kids is Mum and I'm not sure she would be willing for all that time." Julie was divorced, as was I, only she had custody of her five and seven year olds, whereas my ex-wife had our slightly older children.
Julie was great deputy, intelligent and attractive and knew the business inside out and backwards. She'd been with me since returning to work after her second and I'd come to rely on her completely. She deserved a break and some company time away, but I did understand the problems of childcare. "OK, Jules, they want numbers ASAP so I'll put me down as a definite and you as a possible until we've firmed things up."
Nothing more was said for a week until Julie piped up with "I've spoken to Mum," my mind went into overdrive wondering what she was on about, "you know, the conference," everything came flooding back to me, "and she says she can come and look after them for a couple of days, be nice to have some Grandma time with them, and Dad will come and pitch in as well, although I expect he'll just read the paper all the time!"
"That's great Jules, we'll need to re-confirm the numbers though. I'm sure they'll cope OK and you deserve a little time away from them, even if it is only with me!" We'd always been careful around each other, I think deep down, with the right opportunity we might have forged something deeper than our work and casual friendship relationship, but we both held back, silently drawing a line in the sand between us, fearful of losing that great rapport that we already had, and very mindful of the dangers of personal relationships intruding on work.
Time flew as it always did, and we were soon making arrangements for travel. I offered to drive having the more comfortable car, I'd seen the state of the back seat in Julie's and shuddered at what really lurked there. I picked her up from her house early in the morning, watched as she hugged and kissed her children and then her parents and clambered into the passenger seat of my car. "OK?" I enquired.
"Yeah, fine, I'll miss them, but best foot forwards and all that." We drove into the Centre and made the final arrangements for our absence, then set off for the four hour or so drive to the hotel. There was a drinks reception at seven, so we'd be there in plenty of time to check in and settle down before that. The weather started off fine, but soon heavy downpours started, reducing visibility to dangerous levels sometimes, and I forced myself to slow down. There were the usual idiots on the road, tearing past at eighty plus and I gave them plenty of room.
We'd been going for about two hours, Julie dozing in the passenger seat when I saw brake lights ahead and pulled up behind a mass of stationary cars. We sat and sat and then I realised that there was nothing coming the other way. I looked at Julie and we shrugged, "Oh well it's not as though we were going anywhere important anyway." She laughed and I wound down the windows as it had stopped raining, and switched off the engine.
Pretty soon people were getting out of their cars and standing around and I did the same, going over to a group who were peering intently at their phones. "What's up guys, do we know anything?"
"Big smash up ahead, that's all we know at the moment," they replied and I went back to the car to tell Julie.
She was swigging some water, "At least we've got something to drink," she said, "and as for food, I could do with losing some weight," she joked. An hour passed and well into the second. Nearly everyone was out of their cars now, or at least with the doors open and kids were playing football and the adults getting thoroughly pissed off. Individuals were disappearing into the bushes at the side of the motorway, presumably for a pee.
"I think I'm going to have to join them," I indicated to Julie.
"Me too, my back teeth are floating."
"OK, you go first and I'll wait here, I don't think we're going anywhere soon anyway."
"David, I know it sounds silly, but would you mind if we went together, I'm just not very comfortable being on my own in this sort of situation."
"No problem Julie, Come on let's go pee!" I locked the car and I helped her over the barrier as we looked for a good spot. "There you go," I pointed to a secluded area, "you go there and I'll go over here." I walked a few yards away and got my cock out and started peeing, feeling the relief immediately. Finished, I was zipping myself up when I heard a sharp crack and an exclamation from Julie.
Instinctively I turned round and was confronted with the sight of Julie in a semi crouched position, her trousers round her ankles, white panties half way up her thighs and a tuft of dark hair between her legs. Immediately I apologised and turned back but the image was seared into my brain. "No worries David, there I'm decent now." I turned and saw her finish pulling her zip up. I apologised again, but she reassured me.
"Really don't worry, there's no such thing as privacy in my house, even in the toilet. Just the other day my little one caught me...." she trailed off, "No that's a bit too much information."
"Go on Jules, you can tell me," I encouraged, "bet I've heard worse anyway with my two."
She looked at me, "Well don't say I didn't warn you. I was changing my tampon when she burst in and looking at me, asked why I was putting Icy Poles up my bottom!" I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing.
"Well I did warn you!"
"They say three things always tell the truth, drunk adults, little children and yoga pants!" We'd seen enough sights in the gym to know the truth of the last one and we laughed again as we got back to the car. Fortunately the traffic started to move again, albeit very slowly, but finally we were on our way again, running about three hours late.
